St. Petersburg is getting a new hub for early-stage technology companies as Embarc Collective, the Tampa-based nonprofit supporting more than 145 startups, expands across the bay with a five-year office space commitment from Blake Investment Partners.
The deal puts Embarc on both sides of Tampa Bay for the first time since it opened in 2019, giving Pinellas County founders a local place to tap its coaching, programming and investor network.
Some of those companies are already in Pinellas. Embarc works with Spontivly, BlockSpaces, Cvergenx, Knack, Immigr8, CooperCast, CaresLink and SmartCare360, but until now its physical home remained across the bay in Tampa. Blake’s five-year space commitment gives that existing Pinellas network a St. Petersburg base and Embarc a place to support more local founders.
More than 300 founders and co-founders now belong to the organization, whose member companies have created more than 1,400 Florida jobs and attract more than $100 million a year in seed, venture and growth-equity investment.
“This partnership allows us to bring more of Embarc Collective directly to the most promising early-stage tech companies already being built in Pinellas County,” CEO Tim Holcomb said. “Blake Investment Partners’ five-year commitment gives us the foundation to make that investment in the community for the long term.”
Blake, the 23-year-old St. Petersburg investment firm recently selected for the roughly $8 billion redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District, is backing the startup hub with the five-year space commitment. Founder T.W. Blake said bringing Embarc’s network and access to capital into St. Petersburg would help companies already being built there and others the city hopes to attract.
“Bringing Embarc Collective’s proven platform, national network and access to capital to St. Pete is a major step forward for the founders building here today and the companies we want to attract tomorrow,” Blake said.
Embarc will keep its Tampa headquarters, making St. Petersburg an expansion rather than a move. The new hub gives the seven-year-old organization a physical base on each side of Tampa Bay, with Pinellas founders plugged into the same coaches, investors, corporations and startup network it has built from Tampa.